Device, Method, and User Interface for Voice-Activated Navigation and Browsing of a Document

ABSTRACT

The electronic device with one or more processors and memory receives a first document including a plurality of links. The electronic device outputs a voice reading of at least a portion of the first document, and outputs audible information identifying a link of the plurality of links. In response to outputting the audible information identifying the link, the electronic device receives from the user a voice command regarding the link, and, in response to receiving from the user the voice command, outputs a voice reading of at least a portion of a second document associated with the link.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 61/666,659, filed Jun. 29, 2012, entitled “Device, Method, andUser Interface for Voice-Activated Navigation and Browsing of aDocument,” which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosed embodiments relate generally to digital assistant systems,and more specifically, digital assistant systems that performvoice-activated navigation and browsing of documents.

BACKGROUND

Just like human personal assistants, digital assistant systems canperform requested tasks and provide requested advice, information, orservices. A digital assistant system's ability to fulfill a user'srequest is dependent on the digital assistant system's correctcomprehension of the request or instructions. Recent advances in naturallanguage processing have enabled users to interact with digitalassistant systems using natural language, in spoken or textual forms.Such digital assistant systems can interpret the user's input to deducethe user's intent, translate the deduced intent into actionable tasksand parameters, execute operations or deploy services to perform thetasks, and produce output that is intelligible to the user.

Such digital assistant systems may be configured to assist users whohave limited accessibility to interact with electronic devices. Forexample, people with impaired vision, such as low-vision users and blindusers, dyslexic users or others with learning disabilities, or evensighted users who simply want or need to use a device without looking atthe device during operation can benefit from digital assistant systemsthat read information to users. In another example, for electronicdevices with touch screens, people with limited motor skills, such asthose with certain finger or hand impairments, may find performing touchgestures on the touch screens difficult, if not impossible. However,digital assistant systems may receive voice commands, therebyeliminating the need for touch gestures.

However, navigation and browsing of documents remain cumbersome andinefficient, thereby creating a significant cognitive burden on a userwith impaired vision and/or limited motor skills.

SUMMARY

As described above, there is a need for digital assistant systems toprovide an improved user interface for navigation and browsing ofdocuments to users with impaired vision and/or limited motor skills.This enables users to efficiently navigate through and browse documents.

The embodiments disclosed herein provide methods, systems, and computerreadable storage media that provide voice-activated navigation andbrowsing of a document.

Some embodiments provide a method for navigating through documentsperformed at an electronic device with one or more processors andmemory. This method includes receiving a first document comprising aplurality of links, outputting a voice reading of at least a portion ofthe first document, outputting audible information identifying a link ofthe plurality of links, and, in response to outputting the audibleinformation identifying the link, receiving from the user a voicecommand of a first type regarding the link. The method also includes, inresponse to receiving from the user the voice command, outputting avoice reading of at least a portion of a second document associated withthe link.

In accordance with some embodiments, a method for browsing a documentperformed at an electronic device with one or more processors and memoryincludes receiving a document having a plurality of portions, where atleast some of the portions are associated with respective metadata. Themethod also includes outputting a voice reading of respective portionsof the document, including audibly distinguishing the respectiveportions based on the respective metadata. The method further includesreceiving from a user a voice command requesting navigation to aparticular portion associated with particular metadata; and, in responseto receiving the voice command, outputting a voice reading of theparticular portion associated with the particular metadata.

In accordance with some embodiments, a method for identifying a set ofdocuments performed at an electronic device with one or more processorsand memory includes outputting a voice reading of at least a portion ofa document of a plurality of documents. The method also includes, whileoutputting the voice reading, receiving from a user a voice commandrequesting a document corresponding to a particular criteria. The methodfurther includes, in response to receiving from the user the voicecommand, identifying one or more documents, of the plurality ofdocuments, that correspond to the particular criteria, and outputting avoice reading of at least a portion of a respective document of the oneor more identified documents.

In accordance with some embodiments, an electronic device includes oneor more processors and memory storing one or more programs for executionby the one or more processors. The one or more programs includeinstructions for performing the operations of any of the methodsdescribed above. In accordance with some embodiments, a graphical userinterface on an electronic device with a display, memory, and one ormore processors to execute one or more programs stored in the memoryincludes one or more of the elements displayed in any of the methodsdescribed above, which are updated in response to inputs, as describedin any of the methods above. In accordance with some embodiments, acomputer readable storage medium has stored therein instructions, which,when executed by an electronic device with one or more processors andmemory, cause the device to perform the operations of any of the methodsdescribed above. In accordance with some embodiments, an electronicdevice includes means for performing the operations of any of themethods described above. In accordance with some embodiments, aninformation processing apparatus, for use in an electronic deviceincludes means for performing the operations of any of the methodsdescribed above. In accordance with some embodiments, an electronicdevice includes a processing unit configured to perform the operationsof any of the methods described above.

In accordance with some embodiments, an electronic device includes anaudio input unit configured to receive audio inputs. The electronicdevice also includes an audio output unit configured to output audibleinformation. The electronic device includes a processing unit coupled tothe audio input unit and the audio output unit. The processing unit isconfigured to receive a first document comprising a plurality of links.The processing unit is configured to output a voice reading of at leasta portion of the first document. The processing unit is configured tooutput audible information identifying a link of the plurality of link.The processing unit is configured to, in response to outputting theaudible information identifying the link, receive from the user a voicecommand regarding the link. The processing unit is configured to, inresponse to receiving from the user the voice command, output a voicereading of at least a portion of a second document associated with thelink.

In accordance with some embodiments, an electronic device includes anaudio input unit configured to receive audio inputs. The electronicdevice also includes an audio output unit configured to output audibleinformation. The electronic device includes a processing unit coupled tothe audio input unit and the audio output unit. The processing unit isconfigured to receive the document having a plurality of portions,wherein at least some of the portions are associated with respectivemetadata. The processing unit is configured to output a voice reading ofrespective portions of the document, including audibly distinguishingthe respective portions based on the respective metadata. The processingunit is configured to receive from a user a voice command requestingnavigation to a particular portion associated with particular metadata.The processing unit is configured to, in response to receiving the voicecommand, output a voice reading of the particular portion associatedwith the particular metadata.

In accordance with some embodiments, an electronic device includes anaudio input unit configured to receive audio inputs. The electronicdevice also includes an audio output unit configured to output audibleinformation. The electronic device includes a processing unit coupled tothe audio input unit and the audio output unit. The processing unit isconfigured to output a voice reading of at least a portion of a documentof a plurality of documents. The processing unit is configured to, whileoutputting the voice reading, receive from a user a voice commandrequesting a document corresponding to a particular criteria. Theprocessing unit is configured to, in response to receiving from the userthe voice command, identify one or more documents, of the plurality ofdocuments, that correspond to the particular criteria; and output avoice reading of at least a portion of a respective document of the oneor more identified documents.

Thus, digital assistant systems are provided with new and improvedmethods that enable navigation and browsing of documents, therebyimproving the user interfaces for users with limited accessibility. Suchmethods and systems may complement or replace existing methods andsystems.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an environment in which a digitalassistant operates in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a digital assistant client systemin accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a standalone digital assistantsystem or a digital assistant server system in accordance with someembodiments.

FIGS. 4A-4N illustrate exemplary user interfaces displayed on anelectronic device in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating operations for navigating throughdocuments performed by an electronic device in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating operations for browsing a documentperformed by an electronic device in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating operations for identifying a set ofdocuments performed by an electronic device in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram of an electronic device inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram of an electronic device inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram of an electronic device inaccordance with some embodiments.

Like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout thedrawings.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an operating environment 100 of a digitalassistant according to some embodiments. The terms “digital assistant,”“virtual assistant,” “intelligent automated assistant,” or “automaticdigital assistant,” refer to any information processing system thatinterprets natural language input in spoken and/or textual form todeduce user intent (e.g., identify a task type that corresponds to thenatural language input), and performs actions based on the deduced userintent (e.g., perform a task corresponding to the identified task type).For example, to act on a deduced user intent, the system can perform oneor more of the following: identifying a task flow with steps andparameters designed to accomplish the deduced user intent (e.g.,identifying a task type), inputting specific requirements from thededuced user intent into the task flow, executing the task flow byinvoking programs, methods, services, APIs, or the like (e.g., sending arequest to a service provider); and generating output responses to theuser in an audible (e.g., speech) and/or visual form.

Specifically, a digital assistant system is capable of accepting a userrequest at least partially in the form of a natural language command,request, statement, narrative, and/or inquiry. Typically, the userrequest seeks either an informational answer or performance of a task bythe digital assistant system. A satisfactory response to the userrequest is generally either provision of the requested informationalanswer, performance of the requested task, or a combination of the two.For example, a user may ask the digital assistant system a question,such as “Where am I right now?” Based on the user's current location,the digital assistant may answer, “You are in Central Park near the westgate.” The user may also request the performance of a task, for example,by stating “Please invite my friends to my girlfriend's birthday partynext week.” In response, the digital assistant may acknowledge therequest by generating a voice output, “Yes, right away,” and then send asuitable calendar invite from the user's email address to each of theuser' friends listed in the user's electronic address book. There arenumerous other ways of interacting with a digital assistant to requestinformation or performance of various tasks. In addition to providingverbal responses and taking programmed actions, the digital assistantcan also provide responses in other visual or audio forms (e.g., astext, alerts, music, videos, animations, etc.).

As shown in FIG. 1, in some embodiments, a digital assistant system isimplemented according to a client-server model. The digital assistantsystem includes a client-side portion (e.g., 102 a and 102 b) (hereafter“digital assistant (DA) client 102”) executed on a user device (e.g.,104 a and 104 b), and a server-side portion 106 (hereafter “digitalassistant (DA) server 106”) executed on a server system 108. The DAclient 102 communicates with the DA server 106 through one or morenetworks 110. The DA client 102 provides client-side functionalitiessuch as user-facing input and output processing and communications withthe DA server 106. The DA server 106 provides server-sidefunctionalities for any number of DA clients 102 each residing on arespective user device 104 (also called a client device).

In some embodiments, the DA server 106 includes a client-facing I/Ointerface 112, one or more processing modules 114, data and models 116,and an I/O interface to external services 118. The client-facing I/Ointerface facilitates the client-facing input and output processing forthe digital assistant server 106. The one or more processing modules 114utilize the data and models 116 to determine the user's intent based onnatural language input and perform task execution based on the deduceduser intent.

In some embodiments, the DA server 106 communicates with externalservices (e.g., navigation service(s), messaging service(s), informationservice(s), calendar service, telephony service, etc.) through thenetwork(s) 110 for task completion or information acquisition. The I/Ointerface to the external services 118 facilitates such communications.

Examples of the user device 104 include, but are not limited to, ahandheld computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tabletcomputer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a cellular telephone, asmartphone, an enhanced general packet radio service (EGPRS) mobilephone, a media player, a navigation device, a game console, atelevision, a remote control, or a combination of any two or more ofthese data processing devices or any other suitable data processingdevices. More details on the user device 104 are provided in referenceto an exemplary user device 104 shown in FIG. 2.

Examples of the communication network(s) 110 include local area networks(“LAN”) and wide area networks (“WAN”), e.g., the Internet. Thecommunication network(s) 110 may be implemented using any known networkprotocol, including various wired or wireless protocols, such asEthernet, Universal Serial Bus (USB), FIREWIRE, Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), codedivision multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA),Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Wi-MAX, or anyother suitable communication protocol.

The server system 108 can be implemented on at least one data processingapparatus and/or a distributed network of computers.

Although the digital assistant system shown in FIG. 1 includes both aclient-side portion (e.g., the DA client 102) and a server-side portion(e.g., the DA server 106), in some embodiments, a digital assistantsystem refers only to the server-side portion (e.g., the DA server 106).Alternatively, in some embodiments, the functions of a digital assistantcan be implemented as a standalone application installed on a userdevice. In addition, the divisions of functionalities between the clientand server portions of the digital assistant can vary in differentembodiments. For example, in some embodiments, the DA client 102 is athin-client that provides only user-facing input and output processingfunctions, and delegates all other functionalities of the digitalassistant to the DA server 106. In some other embodiments, the DA client102 is configured to perform or assist one or more functions of the DAserver 106.

FIG. 1 also illustrate web servers 120 (e.g., web server 1 (122-1), webserver 2 (122-2), web server 3 (122-3), etc.). Although the one or moreweb servers 120 are not part of the digital assistant system, the serversystem 108 and/or the user device(s) 104 may communicate with one ormore of the web servers 120 to retrieve one or more documents and/orinformation associated with the one or more documents.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a user device 104 in accordance with someembodiments. The user device 104 includes a memory interface 202, one ormore processors 204, and a peripherals interface 206. The variouscomponents in the user device 104 are coupled by one or morecommunication buses or signal lines. The user device 104 includesvarious sensors, subsystems, and peripheral devices that are coupled tothe peripherals interface 206. The sensors, subsystems, and peripheraldevices gather information and/or facilitate various functionalities ofthe user device 104.

For example, in some embodiments, a motion sensor 210, a light sensor212, and a proximity sensor 214 are coupled to the peripherals interface206 to facilitate orientation, light, and proximity sensing functions.In some embodiments, other sensors 216, such as a positioning system(e.g., GPS receiver), a temperature sensor, a biometric sensor, and thelike, are connected to the peripherals interface 206, to facilitaterelated functionalities.

In some embodiments, the user device 104 includes a camera subsystem 220coupled to the peripherals interface 206. In some embodiments, anoptical sensor 222 of the camera subsystem 220 facilitates camerafunctions, such as taking photographs and recording video clips. In someembodiments, the user device 104 includes one or more wired and/orwireless communication subsystems 224 provide communication functions.The communication subsystems 224 typically includes variouscommunication ports, radio frequency receivers and transmitters, and/oroptical (e.g., infrared) receivers and transmitters. In someembodiments, the user device 104 includes an audio subsystem 226 coupledto one or more speakers 228 and one or more microphones 230 tofacilitate voice-enabled functions, such as voice recognition, voicereplication, digital recording, and telephony functions.

In some embodiments, an I/O subsystem 240 is also coupled to theperipheral interface 206. In some embodiments, the user device 104includes a touch screen 246, and the I/O subsystem 240 includes a touchscreen controller 242 coupled to the touch screen 246. When the userdevice 104 includes the touch screen 246 and the touch screen controller242, the touch screen 246 and the touch screen controller 242 aretypically configured to, for example, detect contact and movement orbreak thereof using any of a plurality of touch sensitivitytechnologies, such as capacitive, resistive, infrared, surface acousticwave technologies, proximity sensor arrays, and the like. In someembodiments, the user device 104 includes a display that does notinclude a touch-sensitive surface. In some embodiments, the user device104 includes a separate touch-sensitive surface. In some embodiments,the user device 104 includes other input controller(s) 244. When theuser device 104 includes the other input controller(s) 244, the otherinput controller(s) 244 are typically coupled to other input/controldevices 248, such as one or more buttons, rocker switches, thumb-wheel,infrared port, USB port, and/or a pointer device such as a stylus.

The memory interface 202 is coupled to memory 250. In some embodiments,the memory 250 includes a non-transitory computer readable medium, suchas high-speed random access memory and/or non-volatile memory (e.g., oneor more magnetic disk storage devices, one or more flash memory devices,one or more optical storage devices, and/or other non-volatilesolid-state memory devices).

In some embodiments, the memory 250 stores an operating system 252, acommunications module 254, a graphical user interface module 256, asensor processing module 258, a phone module 260, and applications 262,and a subset or superset thereof. The operating system 252 includesinstructions for handling basic system services and for performinghardware dependent tasks. The communications module 254 facilitatescommunicating with one or more additional devices, one or more computersand/or one or more servers. The graphical user interface module 256facilitates graphic user interface processing. The sensor processingmodule 258 facilitates sensor-related processing and functions (e.g.,processing voice input received with the one or more microphones 228).The phone module 260 facilitates phone-related processes and functions.The application module 262 facilitates various functionalities of userapplications, such as electronic-messaging, web browsing, mediaprocessing, navigation, imaging and/or other processes and functions. Insome embodiments, the application module 262 includes, or interactswith, a web browser application 270. In some embodiments, theapplication module 262 includes, or interacts with, anelectronic-messaging application.

As described above, in some embodiments, the memory 250 also storesclient-side digital assistant instructions (e.g., in a digital assistantclient module 264) and various user data 266 (e.g., user-specificvocabulary data, preference data, and/or other data such as the user'selectronic address book, to-do lists, shopping lists, etc.) to providethe client-side functionalities of the digital assistant.

In various embodiments, the digital assistant client module 264 iscapable of accepting voice input, text input, touch input, and/orgestural input through various user interfaces (e.g., the I/O subsystem244) of the user device 104. The digital assistant client module 264 isalso capable of providing output in audio, visual, and/or tactile forms.For example, output can be provided as voice, sound, alerts, textmessages, menus, graphics, videos, animations, vibrations, and/orcombinations of two or more of the above. During operation, the digitalassistant client module 264 communicates with the digital assistantserver (e.g., the digital assistant server 106, FIG. 1) using thecommunication subsystems 224.

In some embodiments, the digital assistant client module 264 utilizesvarious sensors, subsystems and peripheral devices to gather additionalinformation from the surrounding environment of the user device 104 toestablish a context associated with a user input. In some embodiments,the digital assistant client module 264 provides the context informationor a subset thereof with the user input to the digital assistant server(e.g., the digital assistant server 106, FIG. 1) to help deduce theuser's intent.

In some embodiments, the context information that can accompany the userinput includes sensor information, e.g., lighting, ambient noise,ambient temperature, images or videos of the surrounding environment,etc. In some embodiments, the context information also includes thephysical state of the device, e.g., device orientation, device location,device temperature, power level, speed, acceleration, motion patterns,cellular signals strength, etc. In some embodiments, information relatedto the software state of the user device 106, e.g., running processes,installed programs, past and present network activities, backgroundservices, error logs, resources usage, etc., of the user device 104 isalso provided to the digital assistant server (e.g., the digitalassistant server 106, FIG. 1) as context information associated with auser input.

In some embodiments, the DA client module 264 selectively providesinformation (e.g., at least a portion of the user data 266) stored onthe user device 104 in response to requests from the digital assistantserver. In some embodiments, the digital assistant client module 264also elicits additional input from the user via a natural languagedialogue or other user interfaces upon request by the digital assistantserver 106 (FIG. 1). The digital assistant client module 264 passes theadditional input to the digital assistant server 106 to help the digitalassistant server 106 in intent deduction and/or fulfillment of theuser's intent expressed in the user request.

In some embodiments, the memory 250 may include additional instructionsor fewer instructions. Furthermore, various functions of the user device104 may be implemented in hardware and/or in firmware, including in oneor more signal processing and/or application specific integratedcircuits, and the user device 104, thus, need not include all modulesand applications illustrated in FIG. 2. For example, in someembodiments, the user device 104 does not include the touch screen 246.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary digital assistant system 300in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the digitalassistant system 300 is implemented on a standalone computer system. Insome embodiments, the digital assistant system 300 is distributed acrossmultiple computers. In some embodiments, some of the modules andfunctions of the digital assistant are divided into a server portion anda client portion, where the client portion resides on a user device(e.g., the user device 104) and communicates with the server portion(e.g., the server system 108) through one or more networks, e.g., asshown in FIG. 1. In some embodiments, the digital assistant system 300is an embodiment of the server system 108 (and/or the digital assistantserver 106) shown in FIG. 1. In some embodiments, the digital assistantsystem 300 is implemented in a user device (e.g., the user device 104,FIG. 1), thereby eliminating the need for a client-server system. Itshould be noted that the digital assistant system 300 is only oneexample of a digital assistant system, and that the digital assistantsystem 300 may have more or fewer components than shown, may combine twoor more components, or may have a different configuration or arrangementof the components. The various components shown in FIG. 3 may beimplemented in hardware, software, firmware, including one or moresignal processing and/or application specific integrated circuits, or acombination of thereof.

The digital assistant system 300 includes memory 302, one or moreprocessors 304, an input/output (I/O) interface 306, and a networkcommunications interface 308. These components communicate with oneanother over one or more communication buses or signal lines 310.

In some embodiments, the memory 302 includes a non-transitory computerreadable medium, such as high-speed random access memory and/or anon-volatile computer readable storage medium (e.g., one or moremagnetic disk storage devices, one or more flash memory devices, one ormore optical storage devices, and/or other non-volatile solid-statememory devices).

The I/O interface 306 couples input/output devices 316 of the digitalassistant system 300, such as displays, a keyboard, touch screens, andmicrophones, to the user interface module 322. The I/O interface 306, inconjunction with the user interface module 322, receives user inputs(e.g., voice input, keyboard inputs, touch inputs, etc.) and processthem accordingly. In some embodiments, when the digital assistant isimplemented on a standalone user device, the digital assistant system300 includes any of the components and I/O and communication interfacesdescribed with respect to the user device 104 in FIG. 2 (e.g., one ormore microphones 228). In some embodiments, the digital assistant system300 represents the server portion of a digital assistant implementation,and interacts with the user through a client-side portion residing on auser device (e.g., the user device 104 shown in FIG. 2).

In some embodiments, the network communications interface 308 includeswired communication port(s) 312 and/or wireless transmission andreception circuitry 314. The wired communication port(s) receive andsend communication signals via one or more wired interfaces, e.g.,Ethernet, Universal Serial Bus (USB), FIREWIRE, etc. The wirelesscircuitry 314 typically receives and sends RF signals and/or opticalsignals from/to communications networks and other communicationsdevices. The wireless communications may use any of a plurality ofcommunications standards, protocols and technologies, such as GSM, EDGE,CDMA, TDMA, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, VoIP, Wi-MAX, or any other suitablecommunication protocol. The network communications interface 308 enablescommunication between the digital assistant system 300 with networks,such as the Internet, an intranet and/or a wireless network, such as acellular telephone network, a wireless local area network (LAN) and/or ametropolitan area network (MAN), and other devices.

In some embodiments, the non-transitory computer readable storage mediumof memory 302 stores programs, modules, instructions, and datastructures including all or a subset of: an operating system 318, acommunications module 320, a user interface module 322, one or moreapplications 324, and a digital assistant module 326. The one or moreprocessors 304 execute these programs, modules, and instructions, andreads/writes from/to the data structures.

The operating system 318 (e.g., Darwin, RTXC, LINUX, UNIX, OS X,WINDOWS, or an embedded operating system such as VxWorks) includesvarious software components and/or drivers for controlling and managinggeneral system tasks (e.g., memory management, storage device control,power management, etc.) and facilitates communications between varioushardware, firmware, and software components.

The communications module 320 facilitates communications between thedigital assistant system 300 with other devices over the networkcommunications interface 308. For example, the communication module 320may communicate with the communications module 254 of the device 104shown in FIG. 2. The communications module 320 also includes varioussoftware components for handling data received by the wireless circuitry314 and/or wired communications port 312.

In some embodiments, the user interface module 322 receives commandsand/or inputs from a user via the I/O interface 306 (e.g., from akeyboard, touch screen, and/or microphone), and provides user interfaceobjects on a display.

The applications 324 include programs and/or modules that are configuredto be executed by the one or more processors 304. For example, if thedigital assistant system is implemented on a standalone user device, theapplications 324 may include user applications, such as games, acalendar application, a navigation application, a web browserapplication, or an email application. If the digital assistant system300 is implemented on a server farm, the applications 324 may includeresource management applications, diagnostic applications, or schedulingapplications, for example.

The memory 302 also stores the digital assistant module (or the serverportion of a digital assistant) 326. In some embodiments, the digitalassistant module 326 includes the following sub-modules, or a subset orsuperset thereof: an input/output processing module 328, aspeech-to-text (STT) processing module 330, a natural languageprocessing module 332, a dialogue flow processing module 334, a taskflow processing module 336, and a service processing module 338. Each ofthese processing modules has access to one or more of the following dataand models of the digital assistant 326, or a subset or supersetthereof: ontology 360, vocabulary index 344, user data 348, task flowmodels 354, and service models 356.

In some embodiments, using the processing modules (e.g., theinput/output processing module 328, the STT processing module 330, thenatural language processing module 332, the dialogue flow processingmodule 334, the task flow processing module 336, and/or the serviceprocessing module 338), data, and models implemented in the digitalassistant module 326, the digital assistant system 300 performs at leastsome of the following: identifying a user's intent expressed in anatural language input received from the user; actively eliciting andobtaining information needed to fully deduce the user's intent (e.g., bydisambiguating words, names, intentions, etc.); determining the taskflow for fulfilling the deduced intent; and executing the task flow tofulfill the deduced intent. In some embodiments, the digital assistantalso takes appropriate actions when a satisfactory response was not orcould not be provided to the user for various reasons.

In some embodiments, the I/O processing module 328 interacts with theuser through the I/O devices 316 or with a user device (e.g., a userdevice 104 in FIG. 1) through the network communications interface 308to obtain user input (e.g., a speech input) and to provide responses tothe user input. The I/O processing module 328 optionally obtains contextinformation associated with the user input from the user device, alongwith or shortly after the receipt of the user input. The contextinformation includes user-specific data, vocabulary, and/or preferencesrelevant to the user input. In some embodiments, the context informationalso includes software and hardware states of the device (e.g., the userdevice 104 in FIG. 1) at the time the user request is received, and/orinformation related to the surrounding environment of the user at thetime that the user request was received. In some embodiments, the I/Oprocessing module 328 also sends follow-up questions to, and receivesanswers from, the user regarding the user request. In some embodiments,when a user request is received by the I/O processing module 328 and theuser request contains a speech input, the I/O processing module 328forwards the speech input to the speech-to-text (STT) processing module330 for speech-to-text conversions.

In some embodiments, the speech-to-text processing module 330 receivesspeech input (e.g., a user utterance captured in a voice recording)through the I/O processing module 328. In some embodiments, thespeech-to-text processing module 330 uses various acoustic and languagemodels to recognize the speech input as a sequence of phonemes, andultimately, a sequence of words or tokens written in one or morelanguages. The speech-to-text processing module 330 is implemented usingany suitable speech recognition techniques, acoustic models, andlanguage models, such as Hidden Markov Models, Dynamic Time Warping(DTW)-based speech recognition, and other statistical and/or analyticaltechniques. In some embodiments, the speech-to-text processing can beperformed at least partially by a third party service or on the user'sdevice. Once the speech-to-text processing module 330 obtains the resultof the speech-to-text processing (e.g., a sequence of words or tokens),it passes the result to the natural language processing module 332 forintent deduction.

The natural language processing module 332 (“natural languageprocessor”) of the digital assistant 326 takes the sequence of words ortokens (“token sequence”) generated by the speech-to-text processingmodule 330, and attempts to associate the token sequence with one ormore “actionable intents” recognized by the digital assistant. As usedherein, an “actionable intent” represents a task that can be performedby the digital assistant 326 and/or the digital assistant system 300,and has an associated task flow implemented in the task flow models 354.The associated task flow is a series of programmed actions and stepsthat the digital assistant system 300 takes in order to perform thetask. The scope of a digital assistant system's capabilities isdependent on the number and variety of task flows that have beenimplemented and stored in the task flow models 354, or in other words,on the number and variety of “actionable intents” that the digitalassistant system 300 recognizes. The effectiveness of the digitalassistant system 300, however, is also dependent on the digitalassistant system's ability to deduce the correct “actionable intent(s)”from the user request expressed in natural language.

In some embodiments, in addition to the sequence of words or tokensobtained from the speech-to-text processing module 330, the naturallanguage processor 332 also receives context information associated withthe user request (e.g., from the I/O processing module 328). The naturallanguage processor 332 optionally uses the context information toclarify, supplement, and/or further define the information contained inthe token sequence received from the speech-to-text processing module330. The context information includes, for example, user preferences,hardware and/or software states of the user device, sensor informationcollected before, during, or shortly after the user request, priorinteractions (e.g., dialogue) between the digital assistant and theuser, and the like.

In some embodiments, the natural language processing is based onontology 360. The ontology 360 is a hierarchical structure containing aplurality of nodes, each node representing either an “actionable intent”or a “property” relevant to one or more of the “actionable intents” orother “properties”. As noted above, an “actionable intent” represents atask that the digital assistant system 300 is capable of performing(e.g., a task that is “actionable” or can be acted on). A “property”represents a parameter associated with an actionable intent or asub-aspect of another property. A linkage between an actionable intentnode and a property node in the ontology 360 defines how a parameterrepresented by the property node pertains to the task represented by theactionable intent node.

In some embodiments, the ontology 360 is made up of actionable intentnodes and property nodes. Within the ontology 360, each actionableintent node is linked to one or more property nodes either directly orthrough one or more intermediate property nodes. Similarly, eachproperty node is linked to one or more actionable intent nodes eitherdirectly or through one or more intermediate property nodes.

An actionable intent node, along with its linked concept nodes, may bedescribed as a “domain.” In the present discussion, each domain isassociated with a respective actionable intent, and refers to the groupof nodes (and the relationships therebetween) associated with theparticular actionable intent. In some embodiments, the ontology 360 ismade up of many domains. Each domain may share one or more propertynodes with one or more other domains.

In some embodiments, the ontology 360 includes all the domains (andhence actionable intents) that the digital assistant is capable ofunderstanding and acting upon. In some embodiments, the ontology 360 maybe modified, such as by adding or removing domains or nodes, or bymodifying relationships between the nodes within the ontology 360.

In some embodiments, nodes associated with multiple related actionableintents may be clustered under a “super domain” in the ontology 360. Forexample, a “travel” super-domain may include a cluster of property nodesand actionable intent nodes related to travels. The actionable intentnodes related to travels may include “airline reservation,” “hotelreservation,” “car rental,” “get directions,” “find points of interest,”and so on. The actionable intent nodes under the same super domain(e.g., the “travels” super domain) may have many property nodes incommon. For example, the actionable intent nodes for “airlinereservation,” “hotel reservation,” “car rental,” “get directions,” “findpoints of interest” may share one or more of the property nodes “startlocation,” “destination,” “departure date/time,” “arrival date/time,”and “party size.”

In some embodiments, each node in the ontology 360 is associated with aset of words and/or phrases that are relevant to the property oractionable intent represented by the node. The respective set of wordsand/or phrases associated with each node is the so-called “vocabulary”associated with the node. The respective set of words and/or phrasesassociated with each node can be stored in the vocabulary index 344 inassociation with the property or actionable intent represented by thenode. For example, the vocabulary associated with the node for theproperty of “restaurant” may include words such as “food,” “drinks,”“cuisine,” “hungry,” “eat,” “pizza,” “fast food,” “meal,” and so on. Foranother example, the vocabulary associated with the node for theactionable intent of “initiate a phone call” may include words andphrases such as “call,” “phone,” “dial,” “ring,” “call this number,”“make a call to,” and so on. The vocabulary index 344 optionallyincludes words and phrases in different languages.

In some embodiments, the natural language processor 332 receives thetoken sequence (e.g., a text string) from the speech-to-text processingmodule 330, and determines what nodes are implicated by the words in thetoken sequence. In some embodiments, if a word or phrase in the tokensequence is found to be associated with one or more nodes in theontology 360 (via the vocabulary index 344), the word or phrase will“trigger” or “activate” those nodes. When multiple nodes are“triggered,” based on the quantity and/or relative importance of theactivated nodes, the natural language processor 332 will select one ofthe actionable intents as the task (or task type) that the user intendedthe digital assistant to perform. In some embodiments, the domain thathas the most “triggered” nodes is selected. In some embodiments, thedomain having the highest confidence value (e.g., based on the relativeimportance of its various triggered nodes) is selected. In someembodiments, the domain is selected based on a combination of the numberand the importance of the triggered nodes. In some embodiments,additional factors are considered in selecting the node as well, such aswhether the digital assistant system 300 has previously correctlyinterpreted a similar request from a user.

In some embodiments, the digital assistant system 300 also stores namesof specific entities in the vocabulary index 344, so that when one ofthese names is detected in the user request, the natural languageprocessor 332 will be able to recognize that the name refers to aspecific instance of a property or sub-property in the ontology. In someembodiments, the names of specific entities are names of businesses,restaurants, people, movies, and the like. In some embodiments, thedigital assistant system 300 can search and identify specific entitynames from other data sources, such as the user's address book, a moviesdatabase, a musicians database, and/or a restaurant database. In someembodiments, when the natural language processor 332 identifies that aword in the token sequence is a name of a specific entity (such as aname in the user's address book), that word is given additionalsignificance in selecting the actionable intent within the ontology forthe user request.

For example, when the words “Mr. Santo” is recognized from the userrequest, and the last name “Santo” is found in the vocabulary index 344as one of the contacts in the user's contact list, then it is likelythat the user request corresponds to a “send a message” or “initiate aphone call” domain. For another example, when the words “ABC Café” arefound in the user request, and the term “ABC Café” is found in thevocabulary index 344 as the name of a particular restaurant in theuser's city, then it is likely that the user request corresponds to a“restaurant reservation” domain.

User data 348 includes user-specific information, such as user-specificvocabulary, user preferences, user address, user's default and secondarylanguages, user's contact list, and other short-term or long-terminformation for each user. The natural language processor 332 can usethe user-specific information to supplement the information contained inthe user input to further define the user intent. For example, for auser request “invite my friends to my birthday party,” the naturallanguage processor 332 is able to access user data 348 to determine whothe “friends” are and when and where the “birthday party” would be held,rather than requiring the user to provide such information explicitly inhis/her request.

Once the natural language processor 332 identifies an actionable intent(or domain) based on the user request, the natural language processor332 generates a structured query to represent the identified actionableintent. In some embodiments, the structured query includes parametersfor one or more nodes within the domain for the actionable intent, andat least some of the parameters are populated with the specificinformation and requirements specified in the user request. For example,the user may say “Make me a dinner reservation at a sushi place at 7.”In this case, the natural language processor 332 may be able tocorrectly identify the actionable intent to be “restaurant reservation”based on the user input. According to the ontology, a structured queryfor a “restaurant reservation” domain may include parameters such as{Cuisine}, {Time}, {Date}, {Party Size}, and the like. Based on theinformation contained in the user's utterance, the natural languageprocessor 332 may generate a partial structured query for the restaurantreservation domain, where the partial structured query includes theparameters {Cuisine=“Sushi”} and {Time=“7 pm”}. However, in thisexample, the user's utterance contains insufficient information tocomplete the structured query associated with the domain. Therefore,other necessary parameters such as {Party Size} and {Date} are notspecified in the structured query based on the information currentlyavailable. In some embodiments, the natural language processor 332populates some parameters of the structured query with received contextinformation. For example, if the user requested a sushi restaurant “nearme,” the natural language processor 332 may populate a {location}parameter in the structured query with GPS coordinates from the userdevice 104.

In some embodiments, the natural language processor 332 passes thestructured query (including any completed parameters) to the task flowprocessing module 336 (“task flow processor”). The task flow processor336 is configured to perform one or more of: receiving the structuredquery from the natural language processor 332, completing the structuredquery, and performing the actions required to “complete” the user'sultimate request. In some embodiments, the various procedures necessaryto complete these tasks are provided in task flow models 354. In someembodiments, the task flow models 354 include procedures for obtainingadditional information from the user, and task flows for performingactions associated with the actionable intent.

As described above, in order to complete a structured query, the taskflow processor 336 may need to initiate additional dialogue with theuser in order to obtain additional information, and/or disambiguatepotentially ambiguous utterances. When such interactions are necessary,the task flow processor 336 invokes the dialogue processing module 334to engage in a dialogue with the user. In some embodiments, the dialogueprocessing module 334 determines how (and/or when) to ask the user forthe additional information, and receives and processes the userresponses. In some embodiments, the questions are provided to andanswers are received from the users through the I/O processing module328. For example, the dialogue processing module 334 presents dialogueoutput to the user via audio and/or visual output, and receives inputfrom the user via spoken or physical (e.g., touch gesture) responses.Continuing with the example above, when the task flow processor 336invokes the dialogue processing module 334 to determine the “party size”and “date” information for the structured query associated with thedomain “restaurant reservation,” the dialogue flow processor 335generates questions such as “For how many people?” and “On which day?”to pass to the user. Once answers are received from the user, thedialogue processing module 334 populates the structured query with themissing information, or passes the information to the task flowprocessor 336 to complete the missing information from the structuredquery.

In some cases, the task flow processor 336 may receive a structuredquery that has one or more ambiguous properties. For example, astructured query for the “send a message” domain may indicate that theintended recipient is “Bob,” and the user may have multiple contactsnamed “Bob.” The task flow processor 336 will request that the dialogueprocessor 334 disambiguate this property of the structured query. Inturn, the dialogue processor 334 may ask the user “Which Bob?”, anddisplay (or read) a list of contacts named “Bob” from which the user maychoose.

Once the task flow processor 336 has completed the structured query foran actionable intent, the task flow processor 336 proceeds to performthe ultimate task associated with the actionable intent. Accordingly,the task flow processor 336 executes the steps and instructions in thetask flow model according to the specific parameters contained in thestructured query. For example, the task flow model for the actionableintent of “restaurant reservation” may include steps and instructionsfor contacting a restaurant and actually requesting a reservation for aparticular party size at a particular time. For example, using astructured query such as: {restaurant reservation, restaurant=ABC Café,date=Mar. 12, 2012, time=7 pm, party size=5}, the task flow processor336 may perform the steps of: (1) logging onto a server of the ABC Caféor a restaurant reservation system that is configured to acceptreservations for multiple restaurants, such as the ABC Café, (2)entering the date, time, and party size information in a form on thewebsite, (3) submitting the form, and (4) making a calendar entry forthe reservation in the user's calendar.

In some embodiments, the task flow processor 336 employs the assistanceof a service processing module 338 (“service processor”) to complete atask requested in the user input or to provide an informational answerrequested in the user input. For example, the service processor 338 canact on behalf of the task flow processor 336 to make a phone call, set acalendar entry, invoke a map search, invoke or interact with other userapplications installed on the user device, and invoke or interact withthird party services (e.g. a restaurant reservation portal, a socialnetworking website, a banking portal, etc.). In some embodiments, theprotocols and application programming interfaces (API) required by eachservice can be specified by a respective service model among theservices models 356. The service processor 338 accesses the appropriateservice model for a service and generates requests for the service inaccordance with the protocols and APIs required by the service accordingto the service model.

For example, if a restaurant has enabled an online reservation service,the restaurant can submit a service model specifying the necessaryparameters for making a reservation and the APIs for communicating thevalues of the necessary parameter to the online reservation service.When requested by the task flow processor 336, the service processor 338can establish a network connection with the online reservation serviceusing the web address stored in the service models 356, and send thenecessary parameters of the reservation (e.g., time, date, party size)to the online reservation interface in a format according to the API ofthe online reservation service.

In some embodiments, the natural language processor 332, dialogueprocessor 334, and task flow processor 336 are used collectively anditeratively to deduce and define the user's intent, obtain informationto further clarify and refine the user intent, and finally generate aresponse (e.g., provide an output to the user, or complete a task) tofulfill the user's intent.

In some embodiments, after all of the tasks needed to fulfill the user'srequest have been performed, the digital assistant 326 formulates aconfirmation response, and sends the response back to the user throughthe I/O processing module 328. If the user request seeks aninformational answer, the confirmation response presents the requestedinformation to the user. In some embodiments, the digital assistant alsorequests the user to indicate whether the user is satisfied with theresponse produced by the digital assistant 326.

FIGS. 4A-4N illustrate exemplary user interfaces displayed on aelectronic device (e.g., a user device 104 described with respect toFIG. 2 or a standalone device 300 described with respect to FIG. 3) inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIGS. 4A-4J illustrate exemplary user interfaces associated withnavigating through and browsing one or more documents in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 4A illustrates an exemplary user interface containing a portion ofa first document. In some embodiments, the first document includes aplurality of links indicated, for example, with underline (e.g., “a newnation,” “civil war,” “a great battle-field,” and “a portion of thatfield”).

FIG. 4A also illustrates that, in some embodiments, prior to outputtinga voice reading of the first document, the electronic device outputsaudible information indicating the current position on the firstdocument and/or audible information including information about thefirst document. For example, the electronic device may output an audiosignal (e.g., “beep”) or a voice indication indicating that the portionof the first document to be read is a beginning of the first document orthat the electronic device is about to output a voice reading. Inaddition, or instead, the electronic device may output information aboutthe first document, such as the title, author, date, and source of thefirst document.

FIG. 4B illustrates that the electronic device outputs a voice readingof a portion of the first document, corresponding to the text “fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent.”

FIG. 4C illustrates that the electronic device outputs audibleinformation identifying a link associated with the text “a new nation.”For example, the electronic device outputs a voice signal of the word“link” and/or audio signal, like a “beep.” In some embodiments, the term“link” refers to a metadata containing a location of a linked document.In some embodiments, the term “link” includes a hypertext anchor. Thevoice signal and the audio signal may be output before or afteroutputting a voice reading of the text associated with the link. In someembodiments, the electronic device also outputs information about thelink, such as the title, author, date, and source of a linked document.

In some embodiments, the electronic device pauses for a predefinedperiod (e.g., one, two, three, four, or five seconds, etc.) afteroutputting the voice signal, the audio signal, information about thelink, and/or a voice reading of the text associated with the link.

FIG. 4D illustrates that the electronic device outputs a voice readingof a portion of the first document subsequent to the text associatedwith the link.

In some embodiments, the electronic device receives a voice command froma user. In some embodiments, the electronic device receives the voicecommand from the user while the electronic device outputs the voicesignal, the audio signal, information about the link, and/or a voicereading of the text associated with the link; during the pause; or whilethe electronic device outputs a voice reading of a portion of thedocument subsequent to the text associated with the link. In someembodiments, the electronic device receives the voice command from theuser prior to outputting a voice signal and/or an audio signal about asecond link distinct from the link.

In some embodiments, the voice command is a request to navigate to thelinked document (e.g., “follow the link”). In some embodiments, theelectronic device stores a last voiced-out portion of the document. Insome embodiments, the electronic device stores information about thelink (e.g., the position and/or identification of the link) in lieu ofthe last voiced-out portion of the document.

FIG. 4E illustrates that the electronic device displays a portion of thelinked document, and outputs a voice reading of a portion of the linkeddocument. In some embodiments, prior to outputting a voice reading ofthe linked document, the electronic device outputs audible informationindicating the current position on the document and/or audibleinformation including information about the document. For example, theelectronic device may output an audio signal (e.g., “beep”) or a voiceindication indicating that the portion of the document to be read is abeginning of a document or that the electronic device is about to outputa voice reading. In addition, or instead, the electronic device mayoutput information about the document, such as the title, author, date,and source of the document. Furthermore, the electronic device mayoutput an audio signal or a voice indication indicating that the portionof the document to be read is a heading, a new line, a new sentence,and/or a new paragraph.

FIG. 4F illustrates that the electronic device further outputs a voicereading of a subsequent portion of the linked document. Similarly, theelectronic device may continue outputting a voice reading of theremaining portion of the linked document.

FIG. 4G illustrates that the electronic device outputs a voice readingof a last sentence of the linked document.

In some embodiments, while the electronic device outputs a voice readingof one or more portions of the linked document, the electronic devicereceives a voice command from the user requesting navigation back to thefirst document. FIG. 4H illustrates that, in response, the electronicdevice displays one or more portions of the first document and outputs avoice reading of a portion of the first document.

In some embodiments, the electronic device outputs a voice inquiry aboutnavigating back to the first document. In some embodiments, theelectronic device outputs a voice inquiry about navigating back to thefirst document after outputting a voice reading of the last sentence ofthe linked document. When the user provides a voice command requestingnavigation back to the first document, the electronic device outputs avoice reading of a portion of the first document, as explained above(i.e., navigates back to the first document). Alternatively, in someembodiments, the electronic device automatically navigates back to thefirst document without receiving a voice command from the user, forexample, when the electronic device completes outputting a voice readingof the linked document.

In some embodiments, when the electronic device resumes outputting avoice reading of the first document, the electronic device startsoutputting a voice reading of a portion of the first document thatcorresponds to the last voiced-out portion of the first document. Insome embodiments, the electronic device resumes by outputting a voicereading of the text associated with the link. In some embodiments, theelectronic device resumes by outputting a voice reading of a portion ofthe first document subsequent to the text associated with the link. Insome embodiments, the electronic device resumes by outputting a voicereading of a sentence that includes the text associated with the link.In some embodiments, the electronic device resumes by outputting a voicereading of a paragraph that includes the text associated with the link.

FIG. 41 illustrates that the electronic device outputs a voice readingof a portion of a next paragraph in the first document. In someembodiments, prior to outputting a voice reading of a portion of thenext paragraph, the electronic device outputs audible informationindicating the current position on the document. For example, theelectronic device may output an audio signal (e.g., “beep”) or a voiceindication indicating that the portion of the document to be read is anew line, a new sentence, and/or a new paragraph.

FIG. 4J illustrates that, in some embodiments, a document includesmultiple portions with respective styles. In other words, a firstportion of the document may include a first style and a second portionof the document includes a second style. For example, a first paragraphof the document illustrated in FIG. 4J has a first style (e.g., theparagraph is in non-italicized fonts) and subsequent paragraphs of thedocument has a second style (e.g., the paragraphs are in italicizedfonts) distinct from the first style. The electronic device outputs thevoice reading of the first portion of the document using a first set ofvoice characteristics (e.g., an adult female voice) and the voicereading of the second portion of the document using a second set ofvoice characteristics (e.g., an adult male voice). Voice characteristicsmay include one or more of pitch, speed, and volume, and/orcharacteristics typical to a particular group of speakers classifiedbased on, for example, gender (e.g., male or female) and age (e.g.,adult or child).

FIGS. 4K-4N illustrate exemplary user interfaces associated withidentifying one or more documents in accordance with some embodiments.Although the exemplary user interfaces illustrated in FIGS. 4K-4Ninclude email messages, analogous methods can be used with other typesof documents, such as book chapters, encyclopedia entries, etc.

FIG. 4K illustrates an exemplary user interface of an electronicmessage. The electronic device outputs a voice reading of at least aportion of the message (e.g., “an email from David to you, John, Karen,and Paul. Subject New Feature. The message says ‘This looks really good.Team, what do you think.’”).

In some embodiments, the electronic device receives a voice command fromthe user requesting one or more documents corresponding to particularcriteria. For example, in some embodiments, the particular criteria arethat the one or more documents be authored by one or more authors (e.g.,“find email messages from David,” “find email messages from David, John,Karen, and Paul,” “find email messages from addresses of this email,”etc.). In other embodiments, the particular criteria are that the one ormore documents be associated with a particular document (e.g., “findemail messages in this thread,” “find replies to this email,” etc.). Inyet other embodiments, the particular criteria are that the one or moredocuments be replies to a particular document. In still otherembodiments, the particular criteria are that the one or more documentsinclude a last message from a respective author (e.g., “find a lastemail from David”). In some embodiments, the particular criteria arethat the one or more documents include a first message from therespective author.

In some embodiments, the particular criteria are that the one or moredocuments correspond to a particular date range (e.g., “find emailsreceived last week,” “find email messages received from January 1 toMarch 31,” etc.). In some embodiments, the particular date rangecorresponds to a single date.

In some embodiments, the particular criteria includes one or more of theabove-mentioned criteria (e.g., “find emails from David and Karenreceived last week”).

FIG. 4L illustrates that an exemplary user interface displayed inresponse to the user requesting email messages authored by a particularauthor, e.g., David. The electronic device outputs a voice reading ofthe list of email messages. In some embodiments, the electronic deviceoutputs audible information indicating the number of email messages inthe list.

FIG. 4M illustrates an alternative user interface displayed in responseto the user requesting replies to the previously displayed emailmessage. The electronic device outputs a voice reading of the list ofreplies. In some embodiments, the electronic device outputs audibleinformation indicating the number of email messages in the list.

In some embodiments, the electronic device outputs a voice reading ofemail messages in the list (e.g., the list illustrated in FIG. 4L orFIG. 4M). In some embodiments, when the electronic device outputs avoice reading of a last email in the list, the electronic device outputsaudible information indicating that the email that is read out is thelast email in the list.

Although FIGS. 4A-4N illustrate exemplary user interfaces displayed onthe electronic device, in some embodiments, the electronic deviceoutputs audible information (e.g., a voice reading and/or audiblesignals) without displaying the exemplary user interfaces on theelectronic device. In some embodiments, the electronic device does notinclude a display at all.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating operations for navigating throughdocuments performed by an electronic device (e.g., a user device 104described with respect to FIG. 2 or a standalone device 300 describedwith respect to FIG. 3) in accordance with some embodiments. In someembodiments, the electronic device includes a portable electronicdevice. In some embodiments, the electronic device includes a computersystem.

These operations are merely exemplary and fewer or less operations maybe performed by the electronic device in various embodiments.

In some embodiments, the electronic device receives (502) a firstdocument.

The electronic device outputs (504) a voice reading of a portion of thedocument (e.g., FIG. 4B).

In some embodiments, the electronic device determines (506) whether theportion of the document includes a link. If the portion of the documentincludes a link, the electronic device outputs (508) audible informationidentifying a link of the plurality of links (e.g., a voice output ofthe word “link” or an audio signal “beep” and/or information about thelink, such as the title, author, date, and source of a linked document,as described with respect to FIG. 4C).

In some embodiments, the electronic device receives a voice command froma user. In some embodiments, the electronic device determines (510)whether the electronic device has received a voice command.

In some embodiments, when the electronic device receives a voicecommand, the electronic device determines whether the received voicecommand is a navigation command (e.g., whether the received voicecommand includes a request for navigation to a second documentassociated with the link (i.e., a linked document)). If the receivedvoice command includes a request for navigation to a linked document,the electronic device retrieves (514) the linked document. Theelectronic device then outputs (504) a voice reading of one or moreportions of the linked document (e.g., FIG. 4E).

In some embodiments, when the electronic device receives a voicecommand, the electronic device determines whether the received voicecommand is an information command (e.g., whether the received voicecommand includes a request for information about the linked document).If the received voice command includes a request for information aboutthe linked document (e.g., title, author, date, source, abstract,summary, first sentence, first paragraph, etc.), such as “who is theauthor,” the electronic device retrieves (514) the requestedinformation. In some embodiments, at least a portion of the requestedinformation is obtained from the linked document (e.g., title, author,date, and abstract). In some embodiments, at least a portion of therequested information is obtained by processing the linked document(e.g., summarizing the linked document). In some embodiments, at least aportion of the requested information is provided by a third party server(e.g., review of the linked document). The electronic device outputs(520) a voice reading of the requested information. In otherembodiments, the electronic device receives at least a portion of therequested information from metadata of the linked document, or retrievesinformation from other sources associated with the linked document toget details.

In some embodiments, when a user provides a voice command between twoadjacent links or immediately after two adjacent links, the electronicdevice identifies the two links as candidate links corresponding to thevoice command. Because the user's voice command may be directed to afirst or second link of the two adjacent links, there may be a need toclarify with respect to which link the user's voice command should beperformed. In some embodiments, the electronic device outputs audibleinformation about the candidate links and/or an audible inquiry aboutwhich link the user wants to perform the voice command on. For example,while the electronic device outputs a voice reading of a sentence “thenext game between School A and School B is on March 3,” a user providesa voice command “follow the link.” In some embodiments, the electronicdevice outputs an audible inquiry “which link?” and receives asubsequent voice command from the use. When the subsequent voice commandis “School B,” the electronic device retrieves a document linked withthe text “School B” and outputs a voice reading of a portion of thelinked document.

In some embodiments, after outputting a voice reading of a respectiveportion of the document, the electronic device determines (522) whetherthe end of the document has been reached (e.g., whether the electronicdevice has output a voice reading of the entire document). If the end ofthe document has not been reached, the electronic device outputs (504) avoice reading of a subsequent portion of the document. In someembodiments, if the end of the document has been reached, the electronicdevice waits for a navigation command from the user. When the electronicdevice receives (524) a navigation command from the user requestingnavigation to a previous document or a new document, the electronicdevice retrieves (526) the previous document or the new document. Asdescribed previously, these operations (e.g., operations 522, 524, and526, etc.) may be performed by a server or a mobile device. In someembodiments, prior to receiving the navigation command from the user,the electronic device outputs a voice inquiry about whether the userwants to navigate to another document (e.g., as described with respectto FIG. 4G). In some embodiments, when the user does not want tonavigate to another document, the electronic device stops outputting avoice reading.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating operations for browsing a documentperformed by an electronic device (e.g., a user device 104 describedwith respect to FIG. 2 or a standalone device 300 described with respectto FIG. 3) in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, theelectronic device includes a portable electronic device. In someembodiments, the electronic device includes a computer system.

These operations are merely exemplary and fewer or less operations maybe performed by the electronic device in various embodiments.

In some embodiments, the electronic device receives (602) a documenthaving a plurality of portions. At least some of the portions areassociated with respective metadata. In some embodiments, the respectivemetadata indicate the structure of the document (e.g., paragraphs,sentences, headings, styles, etc.)

The electronic device outputs (604) a voice reading of a respectiveportion of the document. While outputting the voice reading of therespective portion of the document, the electronic device audiblydistinguishes each respective portion based on that portion's respectivemetadata. For example, the electronic device determines (606) whetherthe respective portion corresponds to a signpost. As used herein, asignpost refers to a predefined location or a predefined type oflocations in the document. In some embodiments, when the respectiveportion corresponds to a signpost, the electronic device outputs (608) avoice signal or an audio signal to indicate whether the portioncorresponds to a signpost. For example, in some embodiments, at thestart of a new paragraph, the electronic device outputs a voice signalor an audio signal to indicate the beginning of the new paragraph.Similarly, in some embodiments, a voice signal or an audio signal isused to indicate that a beginning or end of a section and/or to indicatea bookmark.

Subsequent to outputting a voice signal or an audio signal to indicatewhether the portion corresponds to a signpost (e.g., after outputting avoice reading of a couple of paragraphs after outputting a voice signalor an audio signal to indicate whether the portion corresponds to asignpost), the electronic device receives a voice command from the userand determines (610) whether the voice command is a navigation command.When the voice command is a navigation command requesting navigation tothe signpost, the electronic device navigates (614) to the portioncorresponding to the signpost, and outputs (604) a voice reading of theportion corresponding to the signpost.

In some embodiments, after outputting a voice reading of a respectiveportion of the document, the electronic device determines (616) whetherthe end of the document has been reached (e.g., whether the electronicdevice has output a voice reading of the entire document). If the end ofthe document has not been reached, the electronic device outputs (604) avoice reading of a subsequent portion of the document.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating operations for identifying a set ofdocuments performed by an electronic device (e.g., a user device 104described with respect to FIG. 2 or a standalone device 300 describedwith respect to FIG. 3) in accordance with some embodiments. In someembodiments, the electronic device includes a portable electronicdevice. In some embodiments, the electronic device includes a computersystem.

These operations are merely exemplary and fewer or less operations maybe performed by the electronic device in various embodiments.

In some embodiments, the electronic device outputs (702) a voice readingof at least a portion of a document.

The electronic device receives (704) from a user a voice commandrequesting a document corresponding to a particular criteria. In someembodiments, the electronic device receives at least a portion of thevoice command while outputting the voice reading. In some embodiments,the particular criteria requires that the one or more identifieddocuments be (706) authored by one or more authors identified by theuser. In some embodiments, the particular criteria requires that the oneor more identified documents be (708) associated with a particulardocument. In some embodiments, the particular criteria requires that theone or more identified documents be (710) replies to a particulardocument. In some embodiments, the particular criteria requires that theone or more identified documents include (712) a last message from arespective author. In some embodiments, the particular criteria requiresthat the one or more identified documents correspond (714) to aparticular date range identified by the user.

In some embodiments, prior to receiving the voice command requesting adocument corresponding to the particular criteria, the electronic devicereceives from the user a request for information regarding the document(e.g., author, word count, date of last update, a number of sections inthe document, etc.). In some embodiments, in response to the request forthe information regarding the document, the electronic device outputsaudible information includes the requested information regarding thedocument. In some embodiments, the electronic device retrieves therequested information from one or more remote computer systems (e.g.,one or more search engines and/or database servers). In someembodiments, the electronic device determines the requested informationfrom the document.

In some embodiments, the electronic device receives from the user arequest to store the requested information and, in response, stores therequested information (e.g., on the electronic device or remotely). Insome embodiments, the electronic device stores the requested informationwithout a request from the user to store the requested information.

In one example, the request is for a length of the document (e.g., “howlong is this article?”), and, in response to the request for the lengthof the document, the electronic device determines the length of thedocument (e.g., word count or page count) and outputs audibleinformation that includes the length of the document. In anotherexample, the request is for whether the document was updated (e.g., “wasthis article updated?), and in response to the request for whether thedocument was updated, the electronic device determines whether thedocument has been updated and outputs audible information that indicateswhether the document has been updated (e.g., “there are corrections tothe article.”). In yet another example, the request is for an author ofthe document (e.g., “who wrote this article?”). In some embodiments, inresponse to the request for the author of the document, the electronicdevice outputs audible information that includes the author of thedocument. In some cases, the author information is extracted from thedocument (e.g., in the text portion as “authored by” or in an authorfield in a markup language). In some cases, the author information isextracted from a web page that links to the document.

In some embodiments, the electronic device receives a request foradditional information based on the requested information, obtains theadditional information, and outputs the additional information. In someof the examples described above with respect to the author information,after outputting audible information that includes the author of thedocument, the electronic device receives a request for other documentsauthored by the same author (e.g., “what other articles did this authorwrite?”), and in response, obtains information that includes otherdocuments authored by the author of the document, and outputs theinformation. In some embodiments, the electronic device obtains theinformation that includes other documents authored by the author of thedocument by sending a request to one or more remote computer systems(e.g., one or more search engines and/or database servers) receiving atleast a portion of the information from at least a subset of the one ormore remote computer systems.

In some embodiments, while outputting the voice reading of at least aportion of the document, the electronic device receives from the user arequest to store information regarding the document. In someembodiments, in response to receiving the request to store informationregarding the document, the electronic device stores the informationregarding the document. For example, in some embodiments, the request isto bookmark the document (e.g., “bookmark this article”), and theelectronic device stores access information for the document (e.g., auniversal resource locator for the document) as a bookmark. In someembodiments, the electronic device stores the access information for thedocument on the electronic device. In some embodiments, the electronicdevice stores the access information at a remote server.

It would be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art that insome embodiments, the electronic device provides the requestedinformation without performing subsequent operations (e.g., operations716, 718, and 720 described below).

The electronic device identifies (716) one or more documents thatcorrespond to the particular criteria (e.g., FIGS. 4L and 4M).

The electronic device outputs (718) a voice reading of at least aportion of a respective document of the one or more identifieddocuments.

In some embodiments, after outputting a voice reading of a respectiveportion of the document, the electronic device determines (720) whetherthe end of the document has been reached (e.g., whether the electronicdevice has output a voice reading of the entire document). If the end ofthe document has not been reached, the electronic device outputs (718) avoice reading of a subsequent portion of the document.

In some embodiments, if the end of the document has been reached, theelectronic device determines whether all documents in the one or moreidentified documents have been read. If all documents in the one or moreidentified documents have not been read, the electronic device outputs avoice reading of a portion of a next document in the one or moreidentified documents.

In accordance with some embodiments, FIG. 8 shows a functional blockdiagram of electronic device 800 configured in accordance with theprinciples of the invention as described above. The functional blocks ofthe device may be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination ofhardware and software to carry out the principles of the invention. Itis understood by persons of skill in the art that the functional blocksdescribed in FIG. 8 may be combined or separated into sub-blocks toimplement the principles of the invention as described above. Therefore,the description herein may support any possible combination orseparation or further definition of the functional blocks describedherein.

As shown in FIG. 8, electronic device 800 includes audio input unit 804and audio output unit 806. In some embodiments, electronic device 800includes display unit 802 configured to display one or more portions ofan electronic document. In some embodiments, electronic device 800includes touch-sensitive surface unit 808 configured to detect one ormore gestures on touch-sensitive surface unit 808. Electronic devicefurther includes processing unit 810 coupled to audio input unit 804 andaudio output unit 806. In some embodiments, processing unit 810 is alsocoupled to display unit 802 and touch-sensitive surface unit 808. Insome embodiments, processing unit 810 includes document receiving unit812, outputting unit 814, voice command receiving unit 816, storing unit818, retrieving unit 820, identifying unit 822, and user selectionreceiving unit 824.

Processing unit 810 is configured to receive a first document comprisinga plurality of links (e.g., with document receiving unit 812).Processing unit 810 is configured to output a voice reading of at leasta portion of the first document (e.g., with outputting unit 814 throughaudio output unit 806). Processing unit 810 is configured to outputaudible information identifying a link of the plurality of links (e.g.,with outputting unit 814 through audio output unit 806). Processing unit810 is configured to, in response to outputting the audible informationidentifying the link, receive from the user a voice command regardingthe link (e.g., with voice command receiving unit 816 through audioinput unit 804). Processing unit 810 is configured to, in response toreceiving from the user the voice command, output a voice reading of atleast a portion of a second document associated with the link (e.g.,with outputting unit 814 through audio output unit 806).

In some embodiments, the link is associated with text in the portion ofthe first document.

In some embodiments, processing unit 810 is configured to, in responseto receiving from the user the voice command regarding the link, storeinformation about the link (e.g., with storing unit 818) and output avoice reading of one or more portions of the second document (e.g., withoutputting unit 814 through audio output unit 806).

In some embodiments, processing unit 810 is configured to, afteroutputting the voice reading of at least a portion of the seconddocument, receive from the user a voice command requesting navigationback to the first document (e.g., with voice command receiving unit 816through audio input unit 804); and, in response to receiving from theuser the voice command requesting navigation back to the first document,output a voice reading of one or more portions of the first documentsubsequent to text, in the first document, associated with the link(e.g., with outputting unit 814 through audio output unit 806).

In some embodiments, processing unit 810 is configured to, afteroutputting the voice reading of at least a portion of the seconddocument, output a voice inquiry about navigating back to the firstdocument (e.g., with outputting unit 814 through audio output unit 806);in response to outputting the voice inquiry about navigating back to thefirst document, receive from the user a voice command requestingnavigation back to the first document (e.g., with voice commandreceiving unit 816 through audio input unit 804); and, in response toreceiving from the user the voice command requesting navigation back tothe first document, output a voice reading of one or more portions ofthe first document including a text, in the first document, associatedwith the link (e.g., with outputting unit 814 through audio output unit806).

In some embodiments, processing unit 810 is configured to, afteroutputting the voice reading of at least a portion of the seconddocument, in response to receiving from the user the voice commandrequesting navigation back to the first document, automatically output avoice reading of one or more portions of the first document subsequentto text, in the first document, associated with the link (e.g., withoutputting unit 814 through audio output unit 806).

In some embodiments, the voice command is a voice command of a firsttype. In some embodiments, processing unit 810 is configured to receivefrom the user a voice command of a second type distinct, from the firsttype, regarding the link (e.g., with voice command receiving unit 816through audio input unit 804); and, in response to receiving from theuser the voice command of the second type regarding the link, retrieveinformation from the second document (e.g., with retrieving unit 820);and output voice information corresponding to the voice command of thesecond type based on the information from the second document (e.g.,with outputting unit 814 through audio output unit 806).

In some embodiments, the voice command of the second type includes arequest for information about an author of the second document.

In some embodiments, the voice command of the second type includes arequest for a summary of the second document.

In some embodiments, processing unit 810 is configured to identify twoor more links as candidate links corresponding to a voice command fromthe user (e.g., with identifying unit 822); output audible informationabout the candidate links (e.g., with outputting unit 814 through audiooutput unit 806); and receive from the user a selection of a single linkof the candidate links (e.g., with user selection receiving unit 824through audio input unit 804 or touch-sensitive surface unit 808).

In accordance with some embodiments, FIG. 9 shows a functional blockdiagram of electronic device 900 configured in accordance with theprinciples of the invention as described above. The functional blocks ofthe device may be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination ofhardware and software to carry out the principles of the invention. Itis understood by persons of skill in the art that the functional blocksdescribed in FIG. 9 may be combined or separated into sub-blocks toimplement the principles of the invention as described above. Therefore,the description herein may support any possible combination orseparation or further definition of the functional blocks describedherein.

As shown in FIG. 9, electronic device 900 includes audio input unit 904and audio output unit 906. In some embodiments, electronic device 900includes display unit 902 configured to display one or more portions ofan electronic document. In some embodiments, electronic device 900includes touch-sensitive surface unit 908 configured to detect one ormore gestures on touch-sensitive surface unit 908. Electronic devicefurther includes processing unit 910 coupled to audio input unit 904 andaudio output unit 906. In some embodiments, processing unit 910 is alsocoupled to display unit 902 and touch-sensitive surface unit 908. Insome embodiments, processing unit 910 includes document receiving unit912, outputting unit 914, and voice command receiving unit 916.

Processing unit 910 is configured to receive the document having aplurality of portions (e.g., with document receiving unit 912), whereinat least some of the portions are associated with respective metadata.Processing unit 910 is configured to output a voice reading ofrespective portions of the document, including audibly distinguishingthe respective portions based on the respective metadata (e.g., withoutputting unit 914 through audio output unit 906). Processing unit 910is configured to receive from a user a voice command requestingnavigation to a particular portion associated with particular metadata(e.g., with voice command receiving unit 916 through audio input unit904). Processing unit 910 is configured to, in response to receiving thevoice command, output a voice reading of the particular portionassociated with the particular metadata (e.g., with outputting unit 914through audio output unit 906).

In some embodiments, processing unit 910 is configured to output a voicereading of the respective portions of the text to the user in accordancewith respective styles of the respective portions by outputting a voicereading of a first portion of the text in the document to the user usinga first set of voice characteristics (e.g., with outputting unit 914through audio output unit 906); and outputting a voice reading of asecond portion of the text in the document to the user using a secondset of voice characteristics distinct from the first set of voicecharacteristics (e.g., with outputting unit 914 through audio outputunit 906).

In some embodiments, processing unit 910 is configured to receive atleast a portion of the voice command from the user (e.g., with voicecommand receiving unit 916 through audio input unit 904) whileoutputting the voice reading of one or more portions of the document.

In some embodiments, at least one of the respective portions of thedocument is a respective paragraph of the document.

In some embodiments, at least one of the respective portions of thedocument is a respective heading of the document.

In some embodiments, at least one of the respective portions of thedocument is a respective sentence of the document.

In some embodiments, a first portion of the document has a first style,and a second portion of the document has a second style distinct fromthe first style.

In some embodiments, each portion of the document is associated with asingle link.

In accordance with some embodiments, FIG. 10 shows a functional blockdiagram of electronic device 1000 configured in accordance with theprinciples of the invention as described above. The functional blocks ofthe device may be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination ofhardware and software to carry out the principles of the invention. Itis understood by persons of skill in the art that the functional blocksdescribed in FIG. 10 may be combined or separated into sub-blocks toimplement the principles of the invention as described above. Therefore,the description herein may support any possible combination orseparation or further definition of the functional blocks describedherein.

As shown in FIG. 10, electronic device 1000 includes audio input unit1004 and audio output unit 1006. In some embodiments, electronic device1000 includes display unit 1002 configured to display one or moreportions of an electronic document. In some embodiments, electronicdevice 1000 includes touch-sensitive surface unit 1008 configured todetect one or more gestures on touch-sensitive surface unit 1008.Electronic device further includes processing unit 1010 coupled to audioinput unit 1004 and audio output unit 1006. In some embodiments,processing unit 1010 is also coupled to display unit 1002 andtouch-sensitive surface unit 1008. In some embodiments, processing unit1010 includes outputting unit 1012, voice command receiving unit 1014,and identifying unit 1016.

Processing unit 1010 is configured to output a voice reading of at leasta portion of a document of a plurality of documents (e.g., withoutputting unit 1012 through audio output unit 1006). Processing unit1010 is configured to, while outputting the voice reading, receive froma user a voice command requesting a document corresponding to aparticular criteria (e.g., with voice command receiving unit 1014through audio input unit 1004). Processing unit 1010 is configured to,in response to receiving from the user the voice command, identify oneor more documents, of the plurality of documents, that correspond to theparticular criteria (e.g., with identifying unit 1016); and output avoice reading of at least a portion of a respective document of the oneor more identified documents (e.g., with outputting unit 1012 throughaudio output unit 1006).

In some embodiments, the particular criteria require that the one ormore identified documents be authored by one or more authors identifiedby the user.

In some embodiments, the particular criteria require that the one ormore identified documents be associated with a particular document.

In some embodiments, the particular criteria require that the one ormore identified documents be replies to a particular document.

In some embodiments, the particular criteria require that the one ormore identified documents include a last message from a respectiveauthor.

In some embodiments, the particular criteria require that the one ormore identified documents correspond to a particular date rangeidentified by the user.

In some embodiments, processing unit 1010 is configured to outputaudible information indicating a number of the one or more identifieddocuments (e.g., with outputting unit 1012 through audio output unit1006).

In some embodiments, processing unit 1010 is configured to outputaudible information indicating that the respective document is a lastdocument of the one or more identified documents (e.g., with outputtingunit 1012 through audio output unit 1006).

The foregoing description, for purpose of explanation, has beendescribed with reference to specific embodiments. However, theillustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or tolimit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modificationsand variations are possible in view of the above teachings. Theembodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and its practical applications, to therebyenable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention andvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

For example, one or more aspects of the operations described withrespect to FIG. 6 may be used with operations described with respect toFIGS. 7 and 8 (e.g., outputting an audible inquiry after reaching an endof a document). Similarly, one or more aspects of the operationsdescribed with respect to FIG. 7 may be used with operations describedwith respect to FIGS. 6 and 8, and one or more aspects of the operationsdescribed with respect to FIG. 8 may be used with operations describedwith respect to FIGS. 6 and 7. For brevity, these details are notrepeated.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device, comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for: receiving a first document comprising a plurality of links; outputting a voice reading of at least a portion of the first document; outputting audible information identifying a link of the plurality of links; in response to outputting the audible information identifying the link, receiving from a user a voice command regarding the link; and, in response to receiving from the user the voice command, outputting a voice reading of at least a portion of a second document.
 2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the link is associated with text in the portion of the first document.
 3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the one or more programs include instructions for: in response to receiving from the user the voice command regarding the link, storing information about the link; and outputting a voice reading of one or more portions of the second document.
 4. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the one or more programs include instructions for: after outputting the voice reading of at least a portion of the second document: receiving from the user a voice command requesting navigation back to the first document; and in response to receiving from the user the voice command requesting navigation back to the first document, outputting a voice reading of one or more portions of the first document subsequent to text, in the first document, associated with the link.
 5. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the one or more programs include instructions for: after outputting the voice reading of at least a portion of the second document, outputting a voice inquiry about navigating back to the first document; in response to outputting the voice inquiry about navigating back to the first document, receiving from the user a voice command requesting navigation back to the first document; and in response to receiving from the user the voice command requesting navigation back to the first document, outputting a voice reading of one or more portions of the first document including a text, in the first document, associated with the link.
 6. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the one or more programs include instructions for: after outputting the voice reading of at least a portion of the second document, in response to receiving from the user the voice command requesting navigation back to the first document, automatically outputting a voice reading of one or more portions of the first document subsequent to text, in the first document, associated with the link.
 7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the voice command is a voice command of a first type, and the one or more programs include instructions for: receiving from the user a voice command of a second type distinct, from the first type, regarding the link; and in response to receiving from the user the voice command of the second type regarding the link: retrieving information from the second document; and outputting voice information corresponding to the voice command of the second type based on the information from the second document.
 8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the voice command of the second type includes a request for information about an author of the second document.
 9. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the voice command of the second type includes a request for a summary of the second document.
 10. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the one or more programs include instructions for: identifying two or more links as candidate links corresponding to a voice command from the user; outputting audible information about the candidate links; and receiving from the user a selection of a single link of the candidate links.
 11. A method for navigating through documents, comprising: at an electronic device with one or more processors and memory: receiving a first document comprising a plurality of links; outputting a voice reading of at least a portion of the first document; outputting audible information identifying a link of the plurality of links; in response to outputting the audible information identifying the link, receiving from a user a voice command regarding the link; and, in response to receiving from the user the voice command, outputting a voice reading of at least a portion of a second document.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the link is associated with text in the portion of the first document.
 13. The method of claim 11, including: in response to receiving from the user the voice command regarding the link, storing information about the link; and outputting a voice reading of one or more portions of the second document.
 14. The method of claim 11, wherein the voice command is a voice command of a first type, the method comprising: receiving from the user a voice command of a second type distinct, from the first type, regarding the link; and in response to receiving from the user the voice command of the second type regarding the link: retrieving information from the second document; and outputting voice information corresponding to the voice command of the second type based on the information from the second document.
 15. The method of claim 11, further comprising: identifying two or more links as candidate links corresponding to a voice command from the user; outputting audible information about the candidate links; and receiving from the user a selection of a single link of the candidate links.
 16. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which, when executed by a portable electronic device or a computer system with one or more processors, cause the electronic device or computer system to perform: receiving a first document comprising a plurality of links; outputting a voice reading of at least a portion of the first document; outputting audible information identifying a link of the plurality of links; in response to outputting the audible information identifying the link, receiving from a user a voice command regarding the link; and, in response to receiving from the user the voice command, outputting a voice reading of at least a portion of a second document.
 17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the link is associated with text in the portion of the first document.
 18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the one or more programs include instructions for: in response to receiving from the user the voice command regarding the link, storing information about the link; and outputting a voice reading of one or more portions of the second document.
 19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the voice command is a voice command of a first type, and the one or more programs include instructions for: receiving from the user a voice command of a second type distinct, from the first type, regarding the link; and in response to receiving from the user the voice command of the second type regarding the link: retrieving information from the second document; and outputting voice information corresponding to the voice command of the second type based on the information from the second document.
 20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the one or more programs include instructions for: identifying two or more links as candidate links corresponding to a voice command from the user; outputting audible information about the candidate links; and receiving from the user a selection of a single link of the candidate links. 